The New York Times - USA (2020-11-09)

THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020 N P15

Election

cial disclosure statements showed

that his top cash-generating prop-

erties had largely gone sideways.

Without offering evidence, Mr.

Trump claimed last year that be-

ing president was “probably cost-

ing me from $3 to $5 billion.”

The ban on new foreign deals

probably dealt the biggest blow.

Before the presidency, the com-

pany was eyeing a major expan-

sion in China; it would even main-

tain a Chinese bank account and

keep an inactive office in Shang-

hai during the presidency. It had

also done exploratory work on

new business partnerships in Co-

lombia, Brazil and Turkey.

No longer constrained by its

self-imposed ethics plan, the

Trump Organization is now ex-

pected to seek hotel deals and

other business, according to sev-

eral people close to the company.

Even so, there will be numerous

obstacles to a rebound, including

the coronavirus pandemic, law

enforcement investigations into

the company and a deeply divided

view of Mr. Trump among the

American public. Additionally, if

Mr. Trump made another run for

the White House in 2024, he might

need to avoid new foreign entan-

glements.

As Mr. Trump is poised to once

President Trump’s tax records
show signs of financial distress, he
claims to have lost out on billions
of dollars in income while in office
and his eldest sons say the family
business has forfeited dozens of
potential deals across the globe.
Now, denied a second term by
voters, Mr. Trump may seek to re-
turn to a once-lucrative career in
television, this time with a decid-
edly political bent. His family
business will also be free to make
up for lost time by again looking
overseas, where hotels and golf
clubs helped drive its growth be-
fore his election in 2016.
Eric Trump and a spokeswom-
an for the Trump Organization did
not respond on Saturday to re-
quests for comment on the busi-
ness’s post-White-House plans.
The president put out a statement
disputing the outcome of the elec-
tion, indicating that he did not be-
lieve he had lost.
After winning the presidency
four years ago, Mr. Trump de-
clined to sell off his stake in the
Trump Organization, and instead
adopted a plan that he said would
eliminate conflicts of interest. The
Trump Organization pledged to
forgo new deals outside the
United States and hired an ethics
adviser to screen certain domes-
tic ventures.
Democrats and others argued
that the restrictions were half-
measures at best, and indeed the
approach did little to prevent the
president from turning his resorts
and hotels into a hub of favor-
seeking for lobbyists, donors and
corporate chiefs, as The New York
Times reported in October.
Still, the presidency took a toll
on the privately owned family
business, which has not closed a
new hotel deal since Mr. Trump
entered the White House. The
company shelved a proposed
chain of budget-friendly hotels
last year, and Mr. Trump’s finan-

again become a private citizen,

here is the landscape for his fam-

ily business.

Mr. Trump may begin selling his

name again.

The fastest way for the Trump Or-

ganization to raise money is to flip

the switch on its international deal

machine, licensing the Trump

name to real estate projects like

hotels and residential towers.

When Mr. Trump entered the

White House in 2017, Trump Orga-

nization executives said the com-

pany had left behind more than

two dozen such branding deals, in-

cluding in China, Israel and across

South America. As Mr. Trump

leaves office, he is popular in some

countries, and his brand is widely

recognized.

The branding deals are largely

risk-free for the company because

they do not require capital invest-

ments and generally make be-

tween $500,000 and $1 million a

year, at least initially. The pay-

ments often decline after units in

residential buildings are sold.

His company, however, still faces

legal scrutiny.

While Congress may no longer be

as focused on Mr. Trump’s busi-

ness activities, prosecutors in

New York will continue their in-

vestigations.

The Manhattan district attor-

ney’s office is investigating Mr.

Trump and his company for an ar-

ray of potential financial crimes

and is seeking his tax returns. The

New York State attorney general’s

office is conducting a separate civ-

il inquiry into suspicions that the

company misstated its assets.

The company has denied any

wrongdoing, but it may be reluc-

tant to provide the investigators

with additional deals to scrutinize.

Eric Trump, who runs the com-

pany with his brother Donald Jr.,

last year cited scrutiny from Dem-

ocrats and the media as a major

reason for suspending plans to

open a new line of hotels.

The investigations could also

lead to negative publicity as the

company is looking to expand.

A new stream of business partners

may emerge.

Over the past four years, Bobby R.

Burchfield, a Washington lawyer,

served as the Trump Organiza-

tion’s ethics adviser, scrutinizing

potential deals and business part-

ners. The examinations made it

difficult for some to pass muster,

while others were scared off by

the public attention.

That scrutiny will now fall away,

opening a pipeline of new part-

ners.

And with more than $300 mil-

lion in debt coming due that the

president has personally guaran-

teed, there may be some urgency

for the Trump Organization to line

up new deals. In addition, an ad-

verse ruling in an audit battle with

the Internal Revenue Service

could cost him more than $100 mil-

lion, The Times reported in Sep-

tember.

A polarized country and the pan-

demic could hamper a rebound.

Some of Mr. Trump’s most lucra-

tive properties are in Democratic

strongholds, like New York and

Chicago, where he remains deeply

unpopular. And his biggest reve-

nue-generator, his Doral golf re-

sort in Florida, has suffered from a

drop-off in conference revenue as

some big companies and organi-

zations stayed away because of

his divisiveness.

As president, Mr. Trump has

tried to fill the gap, at least in part,

through events booked at his

properties by groups connected to

him and Republican politics. The

Trump International Hotel near

the White House was often brim-

ming with partisan allies.

It is unclear if that patronage

will continue, or if Mr. Trump’s de-

tractors will return to his proper-

ties once he leaves office. Addi-

tionally, it has been a tough year

for the hospitality industry be-

cause of the pandemic, and the

headwinds have hit commercial

real estate, too. Both are central to

Mr. Trump’s business portfolio.

There may be another presidential

act for Mr. Trump or his children.

Mr. Trump, as of late, has pri-

vately raised the idea of running

again in 2024. And the possibility

of another Trump presidential run

could have a chilling effect on his

business in the intervening years,

at least in countries like China,

where a thicket of ethical and legal

conflicts could arise.

The president also may not be

the last Trump to run for elected

office.

Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka

Trump may hold future political

aspirations, and that could curb

some plans for growth. The risks

are greatest on the international

front, where potential for conflicts

of interest abound.

Finally, there is Mr. Trump’s love

for television.

During his time in the White

House, Mr. Trump put his eldest

sons in charge of his company

along with a team of other execu-

tives. But even before that, he had

receded somewhat from scouting

deals, letting his children take the

lead.

Where and how Mr. Trump will

reassert himself in the family

business will be one of the intrigu-

ing questions surrounding his re-

turn to private life. A onetime re-

ality TV star, he may instead re-

turn to television as a political

pundit or in another role, those

around him say.

There have been preliminary

discussions about acquiring or

starting a Trump-branded net-

work, for example. His work on

“The Apprentice,” tax records

show, brought him new sources of

cash and furthered a myth that

would help propel him to the

White House, The Times reported

in September. Paid speeches and a

book deal could also await him.

THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION

What’s Next for Citizen Trump? The Family Business Awaits His Return

This article is by Ben Protess,
Steve Ederand Eric Lipton.

A magazine cover on display in the pro shop at the Trump National Doral golf resort in Florida, and Trump Towers in Istanbul.

SCOTT MCINTYRE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES MONIQUE JAQUES FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Maggie Haberman contributed re-
porting.

AMBLER, Pa. — Kristyn
LaBarge was on a walk when she
found out, not from a smartphone
alert or a call from a friend but
from the loud banging of pots that
something significant had hap-
pened — that Joseph R. Biden Jr.
had made Donald J. Trump a one-
term president.
From San Francisco to New
York to Washington, D.C., big
Democratic cities were erupting
with spontaneous street parties of
singing, honking and dancing on
Saturday. But in Pennsylvania,
Michigan and Wisconsin, which
catapulted Mr. Trump to the presi-
dency in 2016 and which Mr. Biden
had just reclaimed, the celebra-
tions seemed particularly sweet
and personal. That was especially
true in the leafy suburbs of Phila-
delphia, where huge Democratic
margins had tipped the state that
tipped the election.
“It was one of the most phenom-
enal moments of our lives,” said
Ms. LaBarge, a 48-year-old
mother of two boys and two girls.
She rushed home to find that her
son was already blasting the na-
tional anthem. In this most bitter
of election’s wake, hearing Mr. Bi-
den’s calming tone this week, she
said, “was like this sweet music
washing over me.”
“It just feels like,” she said,
pausing and redirecting. “It’s
such a relief.”
For Democrats, it has been an
exhausting four years of Mr.
Trump and tumult and tweets. Of
travel bans and family separa-
tions. Of harsh words for Black
leaders in the United States and
warm ones for autocrats abroad.
Of not one, not two, but three Su-
preme Court appointments. Of im-
peachment and acquittal.
And now, release and restora-
tion.
In a year defined by the pan-
demic and its wrenching losses,
many Democrats feel they just
won something back: integrity in
American democracy, pride in
their country’s next leader and,
more parochially, the “blue wall”
of political power that the party

long enjoyed in these three states.

As defenders of free and fair elec-

tions urged the counting of every

vote, voters in these three states

knew it would be their ballots that

carried the most weight.

When the news broke, Michael

Jeske stepped into his yard in sub-

urban Milwaukee and blasted a

conch shell. Bjorn Hansen, a Re-

publican in Kent County, Mich.,

who voted for Mr. Biden, received

a text from Europe and pumped

his fist. And Derrick McConnell of

Detroit jumped up and shouted,

“Thank you, Jesus!”

They cried. They danced. They

smiled through masks. Many

hugged.

“Covid be damned,” said Alison

Duncan, who lives in a suburb of

Pittsburgh. She was wearing torn

pajamas when her neighbor came

by in sweaty gym clothes. They

embraced anyway. “It was beauti-

ful,” she said.

Some people simply felt it was

easier to breathe. The Trump era

began for many Democrats with a

sense of defeat and dread. It got

worse: Charlottesville, the im-

ages of children in cages, the at-

tacks on female members of Con-

gress and women in power. And

then it was about surviving the

worst pandemic in a century,

which set off anxiety among Dem-

ocrats that Mr. Trump was not tak-

ing the health risks seriously

enough.

On Saturday, a new calm set in.

“I don’t think I need the Well-

butrin anymore — no more anti-

depressant for me,” said Ruth

Briggs, 65, who was skipping

down Arch Street in Philadelphia.

“Four years of depression, just

four years. It’s been horrible. And

it’s lifted.”

In his first address to the nation

as president-elect, Mr. Biden ad-

mitted his surprise at the sponta-

neous celebrations in the streets,

which he called “an outpouring of

joy, of hope, of renewed faith that

tomorrow will bring a better day.”

An unseasonably warm day

across much of the industrial Mid-

west and Pennsylvania, with

bright sun and temperatures

climbing into the 70s, only added

to the sense of euphoria. People

poured into the streets of down-

town Philadelphia, the birthplace

of American democracy. They cel-

ebrated reclaiming a system of

government that they believed

had been fundamentally at risk.

“It felt like every half of every

’80s movie where the bullies are

just winning and winning and win-

ning, and you just don’t know if the

world was the way you thought it

was when you were a kid,” said

Tom O’Connell, who, with his wife

and three children, was among

those downtown. “But it’s the sec-

ond half now.”

If Mr. Biden were to carry the

last two uncalled states where he

is now leading, Georgia and Ari-

zona, he would win exactly 306

Electoral College votes — the

same number that Mr. Trump car-

ried in 2016, which the president

has long characterized as a “land-

slide.”

Still, the 2020 election results

tell a more complicated story for

Democrats than a simplified Hol-

lywood script. Mr. Trump lost, but

Republicans gained seats in the

House and kept control of the Sen-

ate for now with runoff elections

looming for two Senate seats in

Georgia. And Democratic hopes

to make gains in statehouses were

mostly dashed. The margins were

razor-thin even pre-election,

though some polls had Democrats

dreaming (Texas! Ohio! Iowa!) of

an emphatic repudiation of

Trumpism that did not arrive.

“Dance to your demise,”

warned a sign held at a gathering

of Trump supporters in Harris-

burg, Pa. Similar pro-Trump dem-

onstrators counterprogrammed

Democratic celebrations in the

capitals of Lansing, Mich., and

Madison, Wis., a reminder of how

divided the nation remains.

In Detroit, Hasan Beydoun, the

owner of the Rafic’s On the Go

food truck, said he was happy to

contribute in a small way to the

party with free cartons of chicken

tenders, falafel and french fries,

handed out to a hungry crowd of

several hundred people.

Among them was Bruce Fealk,

67, who, at protests for the past

four years, has been wearing a

prison jumpsuit topped by a gi-

gantic papier-mâché head made

to resemble a snarling Donald

Trump. Now he is planning a re-

tirement ceremony for the 10-

pound prop.

“On Jan. 20, no matter how cold

it is, in the middle of a snowstorm,

we’re going to have some kind of

celebration,” said Mr. Fealk, who

lives in the Detroit suburb of

Rochester Hills. “And I’d like to

burn it, in a bonfire would be good

— maybe with some marshmal-

lows.”

In Pennsylvania, the four sub-

urban counties that ring Philadel-

phia netted Mr. Biden about

94,000 more votes than Mr.

Trump, compared with Mr.

Trump’s numbers against Hillary

Clinton four years ago — enough

to offset Mr. Trump’s entire mar-

gin of victory in 2016 and to ac-

count for his full deficit when the

race was called in 2020.

“There are enough of us here to

be the country others in the world

believed we were before,” Julie

Strauss, 65, who lives in Mont-

gomery County, part of that sub-

urban ring, said as she shopped at

the local cooperative. She was

heartened that the leaders of

France and Canada had quickly

weighed in to congratulate Mr. Bi-

den.

Of the Trump era, she reflected,

“It’s disheartening to have discov-

ered in this process it wasn’t the

America I thought it was.”

But on Saturday, the nation

made history as Senator Kamala

Harris became the first woman

and the first person of color to as-

cend to the vice presidency.

In a mostly Black area of North

Philadelphia, Trevor Lewis, a 51-

year-old construction contractor,

voted for the first time this year.

He wasn’t happy with Mr. Biden

because of his past support for

laws that imposed harsh sen-

tences for minor crimes. But he

came out to vote against Mr.

Trump.

“When you’re Black, you know

when somebody’s being racist,”

he said. “He’s inciting groups like

the Proud Boys and QAnon.

Trump is a big kid with an ant

farm and a magnifying glass, and

we’re the ants.”

Balanced in the vote against the

president, a uniquely energizing

force, were voters who saw in Mr.

Biden a sense of decency that they

felt had been abandoned in White

House.

“Thank God, America will be

for the good of the people once

again,’’ said Linda Gorski-Slear,

69, a retired dental hygienist in

Washburn County, Wis. She said

having a leader who would ad-

dress the pandemic was urgent.

“Biden cares about the people, not

just going to the golf course on the

weekend,’’ she said.

As it happened, when the race

was called on Saturday, Mr.

Trump was at his golf club in

Northern Virginia, exactly the

kind of suburban area his embrac-

ing of white grievance politics and

cultural division has turned

deeper blue. “Good riddance,”

read one sign his motorcade

passed.

Back in Ambler, Gina Donato,

46, said she had been crying a lot

— first when Pennsylvania

flipped and again when the presi-

dential race was called. She had

cried when Mr. Trump won, too,

and it all felt just like things had

come full circle.

“It was such a release,” she said.

“Oh my God, this is the first time

I’ve had hope in four years.”

Support for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Saturday in Austin, Texas. Spontaneous

celebrations of their victory were especially poignant in the decisive battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

TAMIR KALIFA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

BIDEN VOTERS

Satisfaction in Wresting

‘Blue Wall’ From Trump

This article is by Shane Gold-
macher, Nick Corasanitiand Trip
Gabriel.

Casting off four years

of tumult and tweets

with sighs of relief.

Shane Goldmacher reported from
Ambler, Pa., Nick Corasaniti from
Philadelphia and Trip Gabriel
from Pittsburgh. Jon Hurdle con-
tributed reporting from Philadel-
phia, Jennifer Medina from
Phoenix, Kathleen Gray from De-
troit, Lazaro Gamio from Wash-
ington, and Kay Nolan from Madi-
son, Wis.